Julia Brott

What are you currently working on?

“My research in Dr. Natalie Bérubé’s lab is currently focused on investigating the role of the chromatin remodeling protein ATRX and how it functions to regulatemicroRNAexpression. WhenATRX is deleted in male pediatric patients, it results in Alphathalassemia X-linked intellectual disability syndrome or ATRX syndrome for short.ATRX patients present with severe intellectual disability, craniofacial abnormalities, genital abnormalities, and even autistic-like behaviours. ATRX is on the X chromosome and ATRX syndrome is primarily diagnosed in male pediatric patients because female patients have the benefit of having two X chromosomes; if they inherit a mutated copy of the gene, they can use the unmutated copy to cope. Our lab has created a mouse model where ATRX is deleted specifically in forebrain excitatory neurons, and these mice show long-term memory and spatial learning deficits. I'm investigating how this protein's ability to regulate microRNAs then facilitates the effects that we're seeing. I'm trying to determinewhich microRNAs are dysregulated and how that then effects the expression of their target mRNAs in vivo. I am hoping to rescue any dysregulated microRNAs by injecting microRNA sponges into their hippocampi and see whether or not I can actually rescue their long-term spatial learning and memory death.”

“I know that whatever I do, I want to make sure I’m still actively participating in research” Julia Brott

Graduate Student PhD Candidate

Contact Info jbrott@uwo.ca

What are your future career goals?

“Honestly, that's the big question for all students, right? I don't know if I have the exact position nailed down as much as I just know that throughout the years of being in research, I've fallen in love with it. I can't get enough of it. I know that whatever I do, I want to make sure I'm still actively participating in research, whether that's becoming a PI and running my own research lab or working in industry, doing research underneath a pharmaceutical company or a health agency or a hospital. Just as long as I'm actively working towards a research goal, trying to answer these big scientific questions, and then hopefully translating those answers in a way that directly helps patients and people.”

What are important things you did in your undergrad that brought you here?

“Always stepping out of my comfort zone is probably the biggest thing. I’d done that at every step of my career so far in academia. Going into my undergrad, I had no concept of graduate school. So really taking that leap of faith and being confident that I knewIliked research enough that I would hopefully enjoy graduate school. I really stepped away from that comfort bubble of what I had planned originally for my career after undergrad. I did the same thingagain when I moved from Guelph to Western after my masters after the pandemic started in 2020. It was changing cities, changing schools, trusting that everything would work out with a new advisor, a new project, and a new topic in general. It was about always trying the new thing that scares you and having faith that pursuing something you were passionate about would work out.”

“I really stepped away from that comfort bubble of what I had originally planned before undergrad.”

What drove you to research in cell biology?

“It all started in civics and careers class in high school, where I found a toxicology program at the University of Guelph. Toxicology is all about different toxins and how they affect different biological systems. The dose ultimately like makes the poison – if you have too much or too little of something, you get all these negative effects. I stuck with the molecular side of that, what happens physiologically when you have too much or too little of a certain biological molecule. Idid a master’s, and realized I love researchandpicking apartquestions. From there, I knew I wanted more, but I wanted to change up my environmentand push myself. That's when I found Dr. Bérubé’s lab here at Western.”

What is your favourite thing about research?

“Itcomes down to always wanting to learn. Myparents have always teased me about staying in school forever. Ijustlove learning, that's what it really comes down to.Even whenyou get close to an answerfor one question, the research tends to generate hundreds of other questions. It’s always a constant pursuit of questions and answers with learning along the way. It definitely keeps me busy.”

“It’s always a constant pursuit of questions and answers with learning along the way”